that it should be well circulated (_ad Att._ ii. 1, 1).

3. A secret history, _Anekdota_, mentioned in letters of B.C. 59 and
44 (_ad Att._ ii. 6, 2; xiv. 17, 6).

4. _Admiranda_, a collection of wonders (Pliny, _N.H._ xxxi. 51).

5. _Chorographia_, a book on geography, mentioned by Priscian. The
letters to Atticus show that Cicero was studying the subject in B.C.
59.

6. A work on law, _De iure civili in artem redigendo_ (Gell. i. 22,
7).

7. A translation of Xenophon's _Oeconomicus_, made when Cicero was
about the age of twenty (_de Off._ ii. 87).

(_b_) _Poems._--1. Cicero's earliest effort in verse was a poem in
tetrameters, entitled _Pontius Glaucus_: Plut. _Cic._ 2, +kai
ti poiemation eti paidos autou diasozetai Pontios Glaukos en
tetrametro pepoiemenon+.

2. In B.C. 60 he made a verse translation of the astronomical poems of
Aratus, _ad Att._ ii. 1, 2, 'Prognostica mea ... propediem exspecta.'
Quotations are given in _De Nat. Deor._ ii. 104 _sqq._

3. In the same year he wrote a poem _De Suo Consulatu_, in three
Books: _ad Att._ i. 19, 10, 'poema exspectato, ne quod genus a me ipso
laudis meae praetermittatur.' A long passage from Book ii., spoken by
the Muse Urania, is recited by Q. Cicero in _De Div._ i. 17 _sqq._

4. Another poem in three Books, _De Temporibus Suis_, belonged
probably to the year 55. Cicero writes to Lentulus in 54 (_ad Fam._ i.
9, 23), 'scripsi versibus tres libros de temporibus meis, quos iam
pridem ad te misissem, si esse edendos putassem.'

5. In the letters to Quintus from June to December, 54, there is
frequent mention of a poem _Ad Caesarem_. Quintus is consulted for
information about Britain: _ad Q.F._ ii. 15, 2, 'mihi date Britanniam,
quam pingam coloribus tuis, penicillo meo.'

6. A poem on Cicero's great townsman Marius is quoted, _De Div._ i.
106.

Among others quoted are _Limon_, in which Terence was praised (see p.
51), and _iocularis libellus_ (Quint. viii. 6, 73). Translations from
Greek poets occur in the philosophical works, e.g. _de Fin._ v. 49,
from Homer, _Odys._ xii. 184-191; _Tusc._ ii. 23, from various parts
of Aeschylus, _Prom. Vinct._

The ancient criticisms on Cicero's poetry are all unfavourable:

_De Off._ i. 77, 'Illud optimum est, in quo invadi solere ab improbis
et invidis audio:

"Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea laudi."'

Juv. 10, 122,

'"O fortunatam natam me consule Romam!"
Antoni gladios potuit contemnere, si sic
omnia dix